Poor Things

First, I want to briefly mention the movie adaptation — Poor Things (2023) by Yorgos Lanthimos, with its magnificent costumes, set design and a great cast: Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Margaret Qualley and others. Emma’s hair and her wild dances — this girl is on fire! I loved it, and the movie is actually how I discovered the book and decided to read it, even though I’m not usually a fan of the epistolary format.

And from the start I want to assure you: Poor Things is a true masterpiece and a treasure. I haven’t read anything better so far, and it became my book of 2024. It’s currently the only epistolary novel I’ve genuinely enjoyed — it was easy and fun to read, and I literally read it in one sitting.

This book is a postmodernist revision of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (which I only discovered after reading it).

The book covers an incredible number of topics. The author comments on patriarchal institutions and social inequality, socioeconomic and political issues, sex, and much more — all wrapped in a fascinating and unusual plot with great humor.

I think I saved the most bookmarks (20) and highlighted the most quotes (36) in this book out of anything I’ve ever read. It felt like every page was holding a bunch of interesting, intellectual or hilarious moments and thoughts.

For some reason — possibly copyright issues — this book hasn’t been reprinted in Russian and there are no plans to do so (the last print run was in 2006, if I’m not mistaken), so it’s hard to find. Reprints with the film cover are available in other languages, which is why I bought the English version — having a book like this in your library is a really good idea. And if I’m brave enough, maybe I’ll reread it in English one day.